Reeling under a prolonged spell of recession caused by intermittent closure of theatres and studios due to the pandemic lockdowns, Bollywood finally went into celebration mode in November last year, with Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi collecting Rs 200 crore at the ticket counters. Industry honchos took its box office figures as a veritable indicator of the return of the good old days.
Soon, the moribund multiplexes bounced back to life with long queues for advance booking of Kabir Khan’s 83. With B-town’s top-selling pair—Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone—in lead roles, in a movie based on India’s historic triumph in the cricket World Cup in England, that the film would make record-breaking business was a foregone conclusion.
Additional inputs from Prateek Sur
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